Doing okay

The snow is rapidly disappearing from the land

This week has continued in pretty much the same vein as the last week. Firstly apologies for being a bit slow on getting the photos from my iphone to my computer. Something's not going right and I end up working on the computer too late in the day to really get my head around what I am doing wrong, but to compensate there are pictures of alpacas and bouncing children will have to wait until next week.

Plants are beginning to sprout

The geese are returning now

I have steadily adjusted to the routine of three small children and helping my daughter to get them to their various activities. We've done pretty well between us, as we have been up and ready in time and out with the minimum of fuss, -well as minimal as you can get with three under fours. There may have been a few occasions where a nearly two year old was stuffed rather reluctantly into his pushchair, in the manner that you have to with small children from time to time when you need to get somewhere. I will lead you to draw your own conclusions on how that was achieved. For the most part though he was fairly amenable and redeems himself with lots of cuddles.

Aggie still seems to be having problems with her skin, but
at least that lump has not got any bigger

The lambs are growing too. This is curly

I have been rediscovering my negotiating skills with the nearly four year old, some attempts more successful than others. It was amusing one day to hear her happily say she wanted to stop with Grandma while Mummy and Daddy did a quick bit of shopping with the noisy brother, however, as soon as they drove away there was a change of heart and a very sad little girl who was busily regretting her decision. I managed to distract her a bit and there were no real tears but it did lead to a chat later about how to think about something else when we feel sad in those kinds of situations. The solution we thought of first was thinking about stickers, particularly princess stickers with sparkly bits on. Sorry if you are not familiar with the workings of the mind of a small child and their delight with stickers, as that last statement may seem incomprehensible to you, but heh! It worked.

As the snow leaves the puddles appear

The ponds are slowly melting

The new baby has at least begun to get his body clock the right way around by being more alert during the day and asleep at night. Always a good thing. Unfortunately he didn't put as much weight on as he should last week and had to go back for a further visit to the midwife, but she's happy with his weight gain now. He is very alert and holds his head up well and so we have had a few conversations, as you do with a little one.

This contraption for the bin is to stop our two cats from
knocking it over and breaking it. It doesn't necessarily stop
them getting in, but it might stop them getting out again and
teach them a lesson

As expected with a new baby there has been the family visits. My parents came on the Friday. My daughter, her children and I went with my mother for tea and cakes, a very English moment for me. We also finished the day with the very British dish of fish and chips from the chip shop. I don't eat many chips these days, but the fish was good with the few chips I did have. It makes sharing with the children easier anyway.

One of the culprits in full winter coat

The other culprit

The following day my son and his family came, along with some sewing projects that needed doing. Whilst the little dynamo was in bed I altered my step-daughter's confirmation dress and my son's woolly jumper. After that we went out for a walk in the sun - the sun has been a little scarce and I have been drenched a few times taking the oldest one to pre-school, so it was nice to amble along at small children's pace.

A pregnant looking Mari or is it just all fleece? At least the
ultrasound suggests there is a baby in there

Ian has been busy on the farm again. He has been taking bookings for visits for trips from Russian speaking groups and visiting rural business advisors. We are now on the way to having subsidies for 5 ha of land and being Latvia this will not amount to much, but will at least pay for the diesel to run the tractor whilst cutting hay for winter feed, so that is progress. I am sure there are a few more things to mention but I can't remember now, but I know I did forget to mention here that last week Ian was visited by a lady who did ultrasound scans and we now know that three of our alpacas are definitely pregnant. So that is something to look forward to later on in the year.

Lady V unfortunately does not appear to be pregnant. We would
like one more baby from her as she produces good cria (baby
alpacas with good quality fleeces)